Global InformationBattle of the Coral Sea information
| Battle of the Coral Sea | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Operation Mo of South West Pacific theatre of World War II | |||||||
 The American aircraft carrier USS Lexington explodes on 8 May 1942, several hours after being damaged by a Japanese carrier air attack. | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 United States Australia |
 Japan | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Frank J. Fletcher Aubrey Fitch Thomas C. Kinkaid George Brett Douglas MacArthur John Crace |
 Shigeyoshi Inoue Takeo Takagi Chūichi Hara Aritomo Gotō Kiyohide Shima Sadamichi Kajioka Kōsō Abe Kuninori Marumo | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
2 fleet carriers, 8 cruisers, 14 destroyers, 2 oilers, 128 carrier aircraft.[1] |
2 fleet carriers, 1 light carrier, 9 cruisers, 15 destroyers, 5 minesweepers, 2 minelayers, 2 submarine chasers, 3 gunboats, 1 oiler, 1 seaplane tender, 12 transports, 139 carrier aircraft.[2] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
1 fleet carrier sunk, 1 destroyer sunk, 1 oiler sunk, 1 fleet carrier damaged, 69 aircraft destroyed.[3] 715 killed[4][5][6] |
1 light carrier sunk, 1 destroyer sunk, 3 minesweepers sunk, 1 fleet carrier damaged, 1 destroyer damaged, 1 smaller warship damaged, 1 transport damaged, 69–97 aircraft destroyed.[7] 966 killed[8] | ||||||
The Battle of the Coral Sea, from 4 to 8 May 1942, was a major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces of the United States and Australia. Taking place in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, the battle was the first naval action in which the opposing fleets neither sighted nor fired upon one another, attacking over the horizon from aircraft carriers instead.
To strengthen their defensive position in the South Pacific, the Japanese decided to invade and occupy Port Moresby (in New Guinea) and Tulagi (in the southeastern Solomon Islands). The plan, Operation Mo, involved several major units of Japan's Combined Fleet. Two fleet carriers and a light carrier were assigned to provide air cover for the invasion forces, under the overall command of Admiral Shigeyoshi Inoue. The U.S. learned of the Japanese plan through signals intelligence and sent two U.S. Navy carrier task forces and a joint Australian-American cruiser force to oppose the offensive, under the overall command of U.S. Admiral Frank J. Fletcher.
On 3–4 May, Japanese forces invaded and occupied Tulagi, although several supporting warships were sunk or damaged in a surprise attack by the U.S. carrier Yorktown. Alerted to the presence of enemy aircraft carriers, the Japanese fleet carriers advanced towards the Coral Sea to locate and destroy the Allied naval forces. On the evening of 6 May, the two carrier fleets closed to within 70 nmi (81 mi; 130 km) but did not detect each other in the darkness. The next day, both fleets launched airstrikes against what they thought was the enemy fleet carriers, but both sides actually attacked other targets. The U.S. sank the Japanese light carrier Shōhō, and the Japanese sank the Sims, a destroyer, and damaged the fleet oiler Neosho. On 8 May, both sides finally located and attacked the other's fleet carriers, leaving the Japanese fleet carrier Shōkaku damaged, the U.S. fleet carrier Lexington critically damaged and later scuttled, and the fleet carrier Yorktown lightly damaged.
Both sides having suffered heavy aircraft losses and carriers sunk or damaged, the two forces disengaged and retired from the area. Because of the loss of carrier air cover, Inoue also recalled the Port Moresby invasion fleet. Although the battle was a tactical victory for the Japanese in terms of ships sunk, it has been described as a strategic victory for the Allies. The battle marked the first time since the start of the war that a major Japanese advance had been turned back. More important, the damage to Shōkaku and the aircraft losses of Zuikaku prevented both ships from participating in the Battle of Midway the following month.
- ^ U.S. carrier aircraft numbers by ship the morning of 7 May: Lexington- 35 Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers, 12 Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bombers, 19 Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat fighters; Yorktown- 35 SBD, 10 TBD, 17 F4F-3 (Lundstrom 2005b, p. 190).
- ^ The smaller warships included 5 minesweepers, 2 minelayers, 2 subchasers, and 3 gunboats. Japanese carrier aircraft numbers by ship: Shōkaku 58 total – 21 Aichi D3A Type 99 "kanbaku" dive bombers, 19 Nakajima B5N Type 97 "kankō" torpedo bombers, 18 A6M2 Zero fighters; Zuikaku 63 total – 21 kankō, 22 kanbaku, 20 Zeros; Shōhō 18 total – 6 kankō, 4 Mitsubishi A5M Type 96 fighters, 8 Zeros (Lundstrom 2005b, p. 188; Millot 1974, p. 154). Cressman 2000, p. 93, states Shōhō carried 13 fighters without specifying how many of which type. Lundstrom's numbers are used in this article.
- ^ Willmott 1983, p. 286; Crave & Cate 1947, p. 449; Gillison 1962, pp. 518–519. Yorktown lost 16 aircraft, Lexington lost 51 aircraft, including 33 SBDs, 13 TBDs, and 21 F4Fs. One Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) PBY Catalina maritime patrol aircraft was lost on 4 May and another on 6 May (Gillison). One B-17 from the 40th Reconnaissance Squadron returning from a bombing mission ran out of fuel on 7 May and crashed and was destroyed. That loss is not recorded in the total aircraft lost. (Salecker 2001, p. 181).
- ^ Carrier aircrew deaths were: Yorktown-14, Lexington-21. Warship crew deaths were: Lexington-216, Yorktown-40, Sims-239, Neosho-183, and Chicago-2 (Phillips 1942; ONI 1943, pp. 25–45). The crews of the two RAAF PBYs totalled about 10 men.
- ^ https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-071/h-071-3.html . Retrieved 12 April 2024.
- ^ https://www.delsjourney.com/uss_neosho/battle_of_the_coral_sea/survivors_and_casualties/survivors_and_casualties_home.htm . Retrieved 12 April 2024.
- ^ Lundstrom 2005a, p. 92; Willmott 1983, p. 286; Millot 1974, p. 160. Breakdown of carrier aircraft losses: 19 Zeros, 19 kanbaku (dive bomber), and 31 kankō (torpedo bomber). Millot adds that 2 Kawanishi H6K maritime patrol, 5 Mitsubishi G4M (Type 1) bombers, 3 smaller seaplanes, and 87 carrier aircraft were destroyed.
- ^ Breakdown of deaths: Carrier aircrew-90, Shōhō-631, Shōkaku-108, Tulagi invasion force-87, and approximately 50 killed in the destroyed H6K, Type 1, and smaller seaplanes (Peattie 1999, pp. 174–175; Gill 1968, p. 44; Tully 1999a; Tully 1999b).